It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
Winston ChurchillRead
Everyone can recognize history when it happens. Everyone can recognize history after is has happened; but only the wise man knows at the moment what is vital and permanent, what is lasting and memorable.
Interpretation
Wisdom involves perceiving significant events as they unfold, rather than merely acknowledging their impact afterwards.
This quote emphasizes the importance of wisdom in recognizing and understanding pivotal moments in history as they occur. While many can see the significance of events in hindsight, it is the wise individual who possesses the insight and foresight to identify what truly matters and will endure well into the future.
In practice
In a speech reflecting on significant historical events, this quote serves to remind the audience of the importance of discernment.
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses.
The United States is like a gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lit under it, there's no limit to the power it can generate.
Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.
I will not pretend that if I had to choose between communism and Nazism I would choose communism.
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
The question is not what you look at – but how you look & whether you see.
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
Age considers; youth ventures.
As you grow up, always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth. Rich or poor, you then can look anyone in the eye and say, 'I'm probably no better than you, but I'm certainly your equal.
In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me.
I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me 'understand' something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.
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